The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 eBook

upon one’s own wives, amiability, modesty, patience,—­the
practice of these is the best of a religions as said
by the self-create Manu himself. Therefore, O
son of Kunti, do thou observe this religion with care.
That Kshatriya, who, conversant with the truths or
royal duties, takes sovereignty upon himself, restraining
his soul at all times, equally regarding that which
is dear and that which is not, and subsisting upon
the remains of sacrificial feasts, who is engaged in
restraining the wicked and cherishing the righteous,
who obliges his subjects to tread in the path of virtue
and who himself treads in that path, who at last transmits
his crown to his son and betakes himself to the woods,
there to live on the products of the wilderness and
act according to the ordinances or the Vedas after
having cast off all idleness, that Kshatriya who conducts
himself thus, conforming in everything to the well-known
duties of kings, is sure to obtain excellent fruits
in both this world and the next. That final emancipation,
of which thou speakest, is exceedingly difficult to
obtain, and its pursuit is attended with many impediments.
They that adopt such duties and practise charity and
ascetic penances, that are possessed of the quality
of compassion and are freed from desire and wrath,
that are engaged in ruling their subjects with righteousness
and fighting for the sake of kine and Brahmanas, attain
hereafter to a high end. For the Rudras with
the Vasus and the Adityas, O scorcher of foes, and
the Sadhyas and hosts of kings adopt this religion.
Practising without heedlessness the duties inculcated
by that religion, they attain to heaven through those
acts of theirs.’”

SECTION XXII

Vaisampayana said, “After this, Arjuna once
more addressed his eldest brother of unfading glory,
viz., king Yudhishthira of cheerless heart, and
said these words: ’O thou that art conversant
with every kind of duty, having by the practice of
Kshatriya duties obtained sovereignty that is so very
difficult of acquisition, and having conquered all
thy foes, why dost thou burn in grief? O king,
as regards Kshatriyas, death in battle is regarded
more meritorious for them than the performance of
diverse sacrifices. It is so declared in the ordinance
that lays down the duties of Kshatriyas. Penances
and Renunciation are the duties of Brahmanas.
Even this is the ordinance (affecting the two orders)
about the next world. Indeed, O puissant one,
death in battle is laid down for Kshatriyas.
The duties of Kshatriyas are exceedingly fierce and
are always connected with the use of weapons, and
it has been laid down, O chief of the Bharatas, that
they should, when the time comes, perish by weapons
on the field of battle. The life of even a Brahmana,
O king, that lives in the observance of Kshatriya
duties, is not censurable, for Kshatriyas also have
sprung from Brahmana. Neither Renunciation, nor
Sacrifice, nor Penances, nor dependence on the wealth